The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Enterprise1701]

It's also interesting simply due to how long it takes. Between the long journey home, the time spent preparing for the mission, and the long journey to the Expanse, I estimate this episode spans nearly four months.

Archer's log entry for "Bounty" was on March 21, 2153. The text of Last Full Measure states that the Xindi attack took place on the March 22, 2153. Then Archer's log entry in "The Expanse" is on April 24, 2153. Then the next given date comes in the first scene aboard Enterprise in Last Full Measure, September 7, 2153.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I feel that now would be a good time to note that the DVD collections offer a different starship scene for our viewing pleasure as a prelude to the main menu. Season one had a loving sweep of Enterprise itself in drydock; season two the threatening profile of several Klingon ships in formation; season three has a Xindi-Reptilian/Xindi-Insectoid fleet escorting the Xindi superweapon; and season four will feature a fleet of graceful Vulcan cruisers. Essentially, then, in this run-through I've already been exposed to Reptilian and Insectoid ships, the former in particular being quite a nice design.

"The Xindi"

(plus novelization "The Expanse" which covers "The Xindi" as well)

A pretty strong start to the season. I'll say now that I think season three is definitely uneven and quite problematic in places, but I think it had more positives than negatives overall, and it certainly answers the weakness of season two by offering a clear sense of purpose and a unifying set of themes to play to, which was one of the biggest strengths of season one and helped make that season so successful. The pressure is greater this time, naturally. Things have changed on Enterprise, and the characters' existing traits have taken an interesting turn: Archer is now a harried soldier rather than an eager explorer, and so the frustration that always simmered under the surface is now directed aggressively outward, so that rather than being occasionally curt he's full-on bad-tempered. T'Pol is no longer the Vulcan advisor who forms part of the crew in the social/familial sense while being technically set apart - she's now truly joined the team, and is fully defined by her personal loyalty to Archer, and yet she still seems out-of-place and a step removed, because while she may no longer represent the High Command, she can't fully seem a natural fit here, and losing her status as the representative of Vulcan makes that, if anything, more pronounced. And Trip, of course, has transformed his well-meaning enthusiasm for meeting new people into a desire to march in and find justice. The same impulsiveness, the same ethics-driven mentality, the same readiness to move past the usual boundaries, only now they're all marinated in anger.

As for the titular antagonists, I like how we're immediately introduced to the Xindi right as the season opens, letting us get a good sense of them rather than having them kept in the shadows for half a year. What we see raises as many questions as it answers, and I think that was indeed the best way to go about it.

Ominous introduction - now for the cheery music! Odd that a season dedicated to a grimmer and more harrowing story arc introduces a newly upbeat version of the theme tune. It would have been hilarious if they had pulled a "Mirror Darkly" here and shown images of Xindi history instead, with the probe attack taking the part of Phoenix and it culminating in the superweapon blowing Earth apart. Now that fits the cheery tone! (If you're a Xindi)

As well as the revelation that Xindi are a multi-species culture and may not all be working on the same wavelength, the plot thickens still further when we discover that the Xindi homeworld has already been destroyed, despite the supposed motive of the Xindi being to prevent their world's destruction at the hands of Humans. Again, I like how the episode immediately establishes the Xindi and their culture but in a way that allows for the heroes to have to work at the mystery without stringing us along in quite the same degree of ignorance. We're at half-ignorance.

We also get confirmation here of the Delphic Expanse as a dangerous place both physically and socially. It's basically the Uncharted Territories from Farscape, where there's no coordinating authorities and little in the way of trust or easy living, where outposts and settlements focus on survival or insular concerns and safety is a rare luxury. A community exists in the Expanse, but it's not a healthy or robust one.

T'Pol has new eyebrows, which are fully sharpened.

As for the dual novelization, it justifies itself quite well by offering point-of-view scenes for characters we don't actually get to see in the episodes - notably both Elizabeth Tucker and the unnamed Reptilian pilot of the test probe, both of whom have a short chapter dedicated to their last moments. Another scene is written from the point of view of a slave on the Trellium mining planet, sketching in the life of the miners there. The Foreman is named Baloran, apparently, and we get some background on him and a clearer sense of his motives and character, though it's nothing that wasn't already implied in the episode. He's an interesting villain, really; completely focused on his dirty, toxic facility even as it slowly kills him, having no apparent pleasure save the occasional sadistic flourish and even that doesn't seem to mean anything much to him. Having his body ravaged physically and his manner both insular and cruel makes him a generally suitable and symbolic introduction to the Delphic Expanse as a whole. He is the Expanse.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

The Xindi Council, and such members as Mallora AKA Depac, Narsanyala Jannar, and most importantly (though as yet we don't know it) Degra and Dolim. We should note that the novelization gave Mallora, Narsanyala and "Guruk" their names, and labelled the two Aquatic councillors Qoh and Qam. Later episodes named "Guruk" Dolim and used the name Jannar for the apparently senior Arboreal, as well as Kiaphet Amman'sor for the senior Aquatic; Last Full Measure thereby resolved this by confirming their full names as Guruk Dolim, Narsanyala Jannar, and Qoh Kiaphet Amman'sor. The Sky's The Limit will give us a Xindi-Reptilian with two names (Svaath Magodin), and the TV show will later give us an Arboreal with two (Gralik Durr), so it all adds up nicely. The only remaining problem, though it's not really a problem at all, is that the actor playing Mallora prefers to call his unnamed character Depac, something I'd like to respect. We don't know if Xindi-Primates have more than one name, but it seems more likely to me that they have only one. Still, until a novel says otherwise, I'll call him Depac Mallora.

The Xindi genetic similarity makes no sense, of course - a cold-blooded reptile and a warm-blooded mammal couldn't possibly be less distinguishable than humans and chimpanzees. On every other count, though, the Xindi work. They look fantastic, both the computer-generated species and the makeup for the actor-portrayed species, and the notion of five races "with five opinions on which race is dominant" makes the situation immediately engaging, promising different perspectives and internal conflicts that look to make the Xindi Council an adversary worth investing in. The Xindi's unity of purpose and shared sense of cultural/political identity contrasts with their fractious and mutually disrespectful relationships. Of course, the Humans on Enterprise now have some of the same going on, what with the tension between Reed and Hayes, and their distinct but overlapping mission profiles and personal jurisdictions. This will be explored further in the next item on my list.

On that note, we have the introduction of Major Hayes and the Military Assault Commandos, including Nelson Kemper, who will become quite important to the literature in particular. I like their introductory scene with Hoshi - it makes both the MACOs and Hoshi seem likeable and genuine - though I find it hard to believe that after weeks travelling to the expanse and weeks more moving through it she's only now introducing herself.

We're introduced to Trellium-D in this episode. The scenes at the mining planet serve to establish, if not explain, both the mineral's importance and its toxicity, which will be equally important in later episodes.

Vulcan Neuropressure makes itself known. Despite being in part another excuse for The Sexy, I actually think it works relatively well as a justification for T'Pol and Trip becoming increasingly intimate, and at least there's an emotional centre to all of this.

Continuity

One of the miners appears to be a Benzite. It looks orangey rather than blue, but perhaps it's sick. That wouldn't be surprising given the toxic environment it's living in. Apparently there was a Benzite back on Rigel X in the pilot, confirmed as such by the call sheets, but I missed it. Still, since that acknowledged appearance confirms that the Benzites have space travel in this era, or at least are found off of their home planet (maybe Benzar is pre-warp but subject to slave raids), we can conclude that the miner here is indeed Benzite. We'll see another Benzite soon on the Xanthan planet in "Raijin", so apparently there's a small population of them settled in the Expanse, or at least moving through it. Given that Rigel X, Xanthan and the mining planet are all confirmed slaving communities, I'm sadly leaning toward Benzar being a victimized world.

The mining planet will be named Tulaw in the novels; the novelization has a slave worker think of it merely as "Blue".

Next Time: Last Full Measure (sans Prologue and epilogue). The Starfleet/MACO relationship is put to the test, and Archer begins his journey into misery and desperation.

 

[Enterpriserules]

I agree with you, it's an uneven season, but it does something completely different from ever other Trek with it's season arc. I appreciate them trying something here. I also like the Trip/T'Pol storyline here. I think it is mostly well done in this season as these 2 people really suffer from some amazing traumas and hardships; finding comfort with one another.

 

[Christopher]

The Xindi genetic similarity makes no sense, of course - a cold-blooded reptile and a warm-blooded mammal couldn't possibly be less distinguishable than humans and chimpanzees. On every other count, though, the Xindi work. They look fantastic, both the computer-generated species and the makeup for the actor-portrayed species, and the notion of five races "with five opinions on which race is dominant" makes the situation immediately engaging, promising different perspectives and internal conflicts that look to make the Xindi Council an adversary worth investing in.

I agree. The biology -- along with the rest of the "science" this season -- makes no damn sense whatsoever, but the idea and the execution are otherwise terrific. We get so many monolithic species/nations/cultures in Trek, so it's nice when we get a civilization that isn't limited to a single species, like the Dominion or the Xindi -- although giving the Xindi a common genetic origin undermines that a bit. And the integration of live humanoids and CG nonhumanoids was impressive, the sort of thing that no Trek series except TAS was ever able to manage so smoothly.

On that note, we have the introduction of Major Hayes and the Military Assault Commandos, including Nelson Kemper, who will become quite important to the literature in particular. I like their introductory scene with Hoshi - it makes both the MACOs and Hoshi seem likeable and genuine - though I find it hard to believe that after weeks travelling to the expanse and weeks more moving through it she's only now introducing herself.

In my personal chronology, I put this scene nearly three months before the rest of the episode, shortly after the ship sets out from Earth during "The Expanse," and thus about six and a half weeks before the final act or so of "The Expanse." There's really nothing in the scene that ties it with any other scene in "The Xindi," so no reason it couldn't have happened much earlier.

Vulcan Neuropressure makes itself known. Despite being in part another excuse for The Sexy, I actually think it works relatively well as a justification for T'Pol and Trip becoming increasingly intimate, and at least there's an emotional centre to all of this.

Yep -- it was definitely introduced to be titillating, but at the same time it's a logical extrapolation on the Vulcan nerve pinch. If they can use neural pressure as a combat technique, it stands to reason they can apply it in more therapeutic ways as well.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

[

On that note, we have the introduction of Major Hayes and the Military Assault Commandos, including Nelson Kemper, who will become quite important to the literature in particular. I like their introductory scene with Hoshi - it makes both the MACOs and Hoshi seem likeable and genuine - though I find it hard to believe that after weeks travelling to the expanse and weeks more moving through it she's only now introducing herself.

In my personal chronology, I put this scene nearly three months before the rest of the episode, shortly after the ship sets out from Earth during "The Expanse," and thus about six and a half weeks before the final act or so of "The Expanse." There's really nothing in the scene that ties it with any other scene in "The Xindi," so no reason it couldn't have happened much earlier.

Good point. Yes, why not? No reason we can't do that, and it lets a good little scene make more sense than it otherwise would.

 

[Christopher]

^In other words, it's an unannounced flashback.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Last Full Measure (Not counting the prologue and epilogue)

There's a lot going on in this one, which doesn't always work in its favour but did mean it held my interest. There are so many ideas cropping up that it seems a bit unfocused, especially since I'm skipping the bookends this time and so don't see why, for example, Kemper and Guitierrez are important in the long-run. That's one of the downsides of this thread's approach.

We have Guitierrez and her unexpected pregnancy, Reed's backstory and an explanation for his hydrophobia, attempts to avert disposability in the lower ranks by fleshing out officers like Chandra, and of course the whole different-branches-of-the-military thing. I couldn't tell you how well that was played, since I don't have any experience of military matters, but honestly I found it the least interesting of the subplots, for all that it's the most prominent. So the "squids" and "sharks" learn to get along. Well, okay.

More importantly, we also have Archer taking his first step toward consciously placing his usual morality to one side in light of the severity of his responsibility. He beats a prisoner to force his cooperation, to Malcolm's distaste, and indeed Malcolm later vows not to allow this sort of thing again, especially since (as we learn in flashback) he understands it all too well, and doesn't want to bring that part of himself back. He decides, essentially, that he's going to take charge of watching out for his captain and making sure Archer doesn't lose himself to brutality or jaded pragmatism; protecting the crew and captain takes more than one form, after all.

We'll see how well he does with that next time...

Seriously, though, Malcolm is handled well in this one.

There are several welcome chapters from Degra's point of view set in the Xindi Council chambers. We see Degra as a thoughtful and non-malicious being, but we also get a very clear sense of how volatile and divided the Council is, with every Xindi species having its own agenda and little success in truly understanding the others (or even seeking to). The most interesting thing about the Xindi by far is their commitment to one another. They seem entirely consistent on the idea of their cultural and political unity even as they skirmish. Although they seem to barely tolerate one another they also don't seem to ever consider going it alone. I honestly think it would never occur to them. Partly their current unity is because they know they need to cooperate against the Human threat, a matter of supposed life-and-death for all of them, but it's more than that. After all, every indication is that the Council predates the Human Crisis, even if it was the knowledge of their future destruction which caused all Xindi across the Expanse to stop feuding and truly start working together. They share a name, they share a history; they're all Xindi, and Xindi are a unity. It's quite noble in its way, that whether or not the coalition works they all seem to accept, with unthinking certainty, that there simply is one; it's the way things are. In a strange sense, and in spite of Degra's misgivings here, the Xindi have long ago learned what the Humans on Enterprise are now working on, and have fully internalized their sense of co-dependence.

It's not even tribalism, where loyalties are nested circles and one might spill another's blood one day only to instantly go back-to-back when threatened by a mutually designated outsider the next. Xindi are just simply committed to each other. I wonder if the racism and even xenophobia they seem to exhibit toward each other is the other side of the coin to something very much like wonder or even love toward one another? All so different, yet raised on the same world and culturally intertwined to the point that they share a name.

In other matters, there's a ship called the Lucky Duck. Helkez Torvo translates, we're told, to "Fortunate Waterfowl". This is not the oddest detail in a book by a pair of authors I don't usually associate with whimsy.

Continuity

Donna O'Neill makes a transfer from the Stern books into the Martin/Mangels books, and we learn some more about her.

Mention is made of several MACO campaigns both within the Sol System and outside of it. There's reference to a defence of Jupiter Station and to something called the Martian Freehold Uprisings, both of which are apparently pretty recent affairs. It's not clear who the MACOs at Jupiter were defending against, but if it's homegrown forces then in conjunction with resurgent problems on Mars (however minor) it seems Sol might not still be one hundred per cent at rest.

Extra-Solar, mention is made of a minor crisis on planet Blagee III, obviously a close neighbour of Earth because it has Human mining settlements. Native factions targeted Humans and Earth sent in the military - possibly the first time we've seen a suggestion of Earth being the more powerful and overbearing party in a relationship with aliens.

Several times there's mention of a recent campaign against pirates in the Janus Loop. There's been speculation as to whether Janus Mining - a company that we'll see in A Singular Destiny - lent its name to planet Janus VI of Horta fame or takes its name from the world, having expanded from the operation on that planet. Basically, is Janus VI the sixth planet of the star Janus, as would usually be the case, or is it the sixth world owned by Janus Mining? Is the Janus Loop the location of the Janus System (which according to Devil's Bargain is in Omega Sector, a region Magnus and Erin Hansen will cross on their way out of Federation space) or is it simply the region exploited or charted by Janus Mining? If Janus Mining exists already, then it transfers its headquarters from Earth to a fellow Federation member, Bre'el IV, at some point.

Reference is made to the Eugenics Wars and Khan Noonien Singh; a rarity, thus far. This may be the first.

Daedalus-class ships exist. I assume that the Daedalus from the eponymous books was deemed a success in terms of its spaceframe even if its engine proved a disaster, and ships of the design were built with more conventional warp engines installed.

Travis has a copy of Chicago Mobs of The Twenties. Did his mum lend it to him?

As well as platinum (as we saw in "The Xindi"), we learn that mercury, gold-pressed latnium and kildrats (whatever that is) are acceptable currency in parts of the Delphic Expanse. This at least according to Grakka the Hutt (it's pretty obvious that Grakka is a Hutt, though how he got into this franchise universe I don't know. Figrin D'an and his cantina band show up too. Come to think of it... rundown backward desert planet with "too" in its name...oh. Right). Well, finding the plans for the Death Star is already the point of the mission, so why not? Oh, that means the guy who owns the Lucky Duck is Han Solo, doesn't it? Archer...just beat up Han Solo? This is getting weird and I'm going to stop now before I uncover anything else. My mind is already sending feelers between Trip/Elizabeth/brother-sister and Luke/Leia/brother-sister, and I think we can all agree we don't want it to find a link.

The currency of Draylax is the dinar. Random trivia of the day.

Next Time: We get to know the Expanse better in "Anomaly".

 

[Enterprise1701]

I withdraw my previous assertion from above. I re-read the passage at the end of Daedalus, and I realize now that Trip reasoned that the alternate Daedalus exploded while in the Denari system, and the explosion created the (interphasic/interspatial) rift to the prime reality.

 

[Avro Arrow]

The currency of Draylax is the dinar. Random trivia of the day.

Sooo... in-universe, either Earth is translating other planets' currencies into human-centric terms... or that's the actual Draylaxian term and it's a really odd coincidence?

Maybe it's like Hitchhiker's gin and tonics... *every* planet has at least one currency that sounds like "dinar"!

 

[Sci]

Mention is made of several MACO campaigns both within the Sol System and outside of it. There's reference to a defence of Jupiter Station and to something called the Martian Freehold Uprisings, both of which are apparently pretty recent affairs. It's not clear who the MACOs at Jupiter were defending against, but if it's homegrown forces then in conjunction with resurgent problems on Mars (however minor) it seems Sol might not still be one hundred per cent at rest.

The reference to the Martian Freehold Uprisings is interesting. According to The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing, the War of Martian Independence began in 2105--25 years before the founding of United Earth (which Articles of the Federation established to be in 2130). The subsequent independent Martian state was known as the Confederated Martian Colonies.

I'm really curious what the Freehold Uprisings could be. A "freehold" in English law just the ownership of real property, the land and immovable objects attached to it, as opposed to a leasehold, in which land is held for a set period of time under a lease. So whatever this uprising it, it sounds like it is in some way related to the ownership of land and real estate on Mars.

Spoiler: Possible story ideas? Trying to interpret the name of the conflict

The most immediately obvious possibility is that there were a number of people with leaseholds who decided to take up arms to transform the real estate into freeholds, though of course the name is ambiguous. Second possibility: Maybe Martian law did not allow for leaseholds, and the rebels wanted to be able to lease the land in order to charge exploitative rents? Third possibility: Leaseholds are often on the order of decades long. Perhaps this was not an intra-Martian conflict? Maybe these were leaseholds, with the tenants being the actual Martians, leasing land from United Earth landlords, and the rebels were people who wanted to transfer control over the real estate from Earth landlords to the actual Martians?

I wonder why United Earth intervened, and which side U.E. would have been on?

Spoiler: Continuing remark

If it was that third possibility, an attempt to transfer ownership of real estate on Mars from U.E. landlords to Martian landlords, then U.E. intervention makes some sense.

I know that Michael A. Martin has a very leftist bent, and he sometimes likes to imply that United Earth in ENT and, later, the UFP, is not always as enlightened and egalitarian as it claims to be.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

The currency of Draylax is the dinar. Random trivia of the day.

Sooo... in-universe, either Earth is translating other planets' currencies into human-centric terms... or that's the actual Draylaxian term and it's a really odd coincidence?

Maybe it's like Hitchhiker's gin and tonics... *every* planet has at least one currency that sounds like "dinar"!

Of course, the Cardassians use lek, so apparently it's the former - Earth is translating alien currencies into Earth monies. Why it chooses the words it does I have no idea, other than alliteration for the Draylaxians (and "Draylaxian dollar" sounds more like a socio-political thing - "we need more three-breasted characters if we want to get a share of the Draylaxian Dollar").

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I know that Michael A. Martin has a very leftist bent, and he sometimes likes to imply that United Earth in ENT and, later, the UFP, is not always as enlightened and egalitarian as it claims to be.

Since we have so many references to Human but non-Terran legal precedents in later Federation law (Fundamental Declaration of the Martian Colonies, Statutes of Alpha III, etc.), the canonical evidence might be interpreted as supporting that idea; that Earth itself got a little overbearing at times and the other Human worlds had to struggle to assert their economic or social freedoms. With the UFP actually borrowing more from the other worlds than from United Earth?

 

[Sci]

I know that Michael A. Martin has a very leftist bent, and he sometimes likes to imply that United Earth in ENT and, later, the UFP, is not always as enlightened and egalitarian as it claims to be.

Since we have so many references to Human but non-Terran legal precedents in later Federation law (Fundamental Declaration of the Martian Colonies, Statutes of Alpha III, etc.), the canonical evidence might be interpreted as supporting that idea; that Earth itself got a little overbearing at times and the other Human worlds had to struggle to assert their economic or social freedoms. With the UFP actually borrowing more from the other worlds than from United Earth?

Certainly one possibility! I want to be optimistic and imagine that maybe U.E.'s more hegemonic (relative to other Human settlements, anyway) phase was a temporary phenomenon in the 2140s, with the Samuels government in the 2150s borrowing from those same worlds just like the UFP would ten years later.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I know that Michael A. Martin has a very leftist bent, and he sometimes likes to imply that United Earth in ENT and, later, the UFP, is not always as enlightened and egalitarian as it claims to be.

Since we have so many references to Human but non-Terran legal precedents in later Federation law (Fundamental Declaration of the Martian Colonies, Statutes of Alpha III, etc.), the canonical evidence might be interpreted as supporting that idea; that Earth itself got a little overbearing at times and the other Human worlds had to struggle to assert their economic or social freedoms. With the UFP actually borrowing more from the other worlds than from United Earth?

Certainly one possibility! I want to be optimistic and imagine that maybe U.E.'s more hegemonic (relative to other Human settlements, anyway) phase was a temporary phenomenon in the 2140s, with the Samuels government in the 2150s borrowing from those same worlds just like the UFP would ten years later.

Maybe there was a bit of tension while they were waiting to complete the Warp Five Project? Perhaps once the project was a success things calmed down a bit (to be a bit cynical, perhaps because Earth was now assured that it was at the forefront of technological development, and had less fear now of the outworlds outpacing it due to their closer ties with some of the more distant species?) Perhaps so long as Earth feels that it is the leading edge and the pinnacle of Humanity, it's nothing but benevolent, but it gets a little testy if it feels its status is threatened? You think Human, you think Earth, and that's how they want it to remain? Mars, Alpha Centauri, et al; Earth has no issues with their independence, but it doesn't like the idea that it might not always be the most important Human nation around?

 

[Jarvisimo]

Oh this review of Last Full Measure makes me interested in going to find it, and other Enterprise things (although I read KM and Chris's books). But I must admit I only watched some of Enterprise (some of S1, the end of S3 and some of S4 - was it on at an awkward time on Channel 4 in the UK?). Your thoughts on it make it seem a better investment, especially its first season.

 

[Sci]

Since we have so many references to Human but non-Terran legal precedents in later Federation law (Fundamental Declaration of the Martian Colonies, Statutes of Alpha III, etc.), the canonical evidence might be interpreted as supporting that idea; that Earth itself got a little overbearing at times and the other Human worlds had to struggle to assert their economic or social freedoms. With the UFP actually borrowing more from the other worlds than from United Earth?

Certainly one possibility! I want to be optimistic and imagine that maybe U.E.'s more hegemonic (relative to other Human settlements, anyway) phase was a temporary phenomenon in the 2140s, with the Samuels government in the 2150s borrowing from those same worlds just like the UFP would ten years later.

Maybe there was a bit of tension while they were waiting to complete the Warp Five Project? Perhaps once the project was a success things calmed down a bit (to be a bit cynical, perhaps because Earth was now assured that it was at the forefront of technological development, and had less fear now of the outworlds outpacing it due to their closer ties with some of the more distant species?) Perhaps so long as Earth feels that it's the leading edge and the pinnacle of Humanity, it's nothing but benevolent, but it gets a little testy if it feels its status is threatened? You think Human, you think Earth, and that's how they want it to remain? Mars, Alpha Centauri, et al; Earth has no issues with their independence, but it doesn't like the idea that it might not always be the most important Human nation around?

I had a slightly less cynical notion: Maybe in the late 2130s or early 2140s, one of the more reactionary parties gets a majority in the U.E. Parliament as a reaction to all the progressivism it took to finally unite Earth into one planetary state, and they instituted the more hegemonic policies towards U.E.'s satellite worlds -- but then, those worlds fought back (politically, legally, militarily, however), and so the people of United Earth woke up and thought, "Hey, let's not be douchebags to these people anymore. They just want the same rights we have," and by 2151 had voted back in the progressive parties that had gotten Earth united in the first place.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Certainly one possibility! I want to be optimistic and imagine that maybe U.E.'s more hegemonic (relative to other Human settlements, anyway) phase was a temporary phenomenon in the 2140s, with the Samuels government in the 2150s borrowing from those same worlds just like the UFP would ten years later.

Maybe there was a bit of tension while they were waiting to complete the Warp Five Project? Perhaps once the project was a success things calmed down a bit (to be a bit cynical, perhaps because Earth was now assured that it was at the forefront of technological development, and had less fear now of the outworlds outpacing it due to their closer ties with some of the more distant species?) Perhaps so long as Earth feels that it is the leading edge and the pinnacle of Humanity, it's nothing but benevolent, but it gets a little testy if it feels its status is threatened? You think Human, you think Earth, and that's how they want it to remain? Mars, Alpha Centauri, et al; Earth has no issues with their independence, but it doesn't like the idea that it might not always be the most important Human nation around?

I had a slightly less cynical notion: Maybe in the late 2130s or early 2140s, one of the more reactionary parties gets a majority in the U.E. Parliament as a reaction to all the progressivism it took to finally unite Earth into one planetary state, and they instituted the more hegemonic policies towards U.E.'s satellite worlds -- but then, those worlds fought back (politically, legally, militarily, however), and so the people of United Earth woke up and thought, "Hey, let's not be douchebags to these people anymore. They just want the same rights we have," and by 2151 had voted back in the progressive parties that had gotten Earth united in the first place.

That would certainly make sense. The founding of United Earth would definitely lead to some opposition (as you say, the unification would have been a big deal that must have been born of quite the political push and there would inevitably be significant backlash from it), and the idea that the satellite worlds would bear the brunt of the backlash makes sense to me. Those uneasy with all the changes might not have had support enough to consider dissolving the united government, or had come themselves to see the benefits of it, but were reluctant to see (say) a ten-year-old outpost in another star system given the same standing and legal rights as an Old Earth nation. And, as you say, the peoples of the satellite worlds protested and pushed for full representation and the Terran people saw the light (after some had already broken away completely).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Anomaly"

After "The Xindi" introduced the antagonists, this episode fleshes out the Expanse itself. Its physical properties, the dangers, the effect it has on those entering it - e.g. formally peaceful races adapting to a life of piracy, losing themselves in desperate pragmatism. In short, this episode serves to summarize the challenge that life in the Expanse entails, so that we're clear going forward what sort of a place this is and what the crew are facing. Also, another mystery is introduced in the form of the Sphere, which shows that the writers are thinking ahead this time.

The episode cements the idea of the Expanse as that of a challenging place, where no-one can depend on the usual rules applying - whether that's physical rules or rules of behaviour.

Given what occurred in Last Full Measure, Reed's arriving to find Archer torturing his prisoner in the airlock becomes almost darkly humorous - oh god, he's doing it again. Reed doesn't seem to know what to do. Archer may have recovered a Xindi database by episode's end, but he hasn't really triumphed. Not only did he consciously ignore his usual principles in light of the huge responsibility placed on him, but ironically the pirate still believes him "soft" and mocks him for his ethics regardless, telling him that he'll have to become far more comfortable with things like this if he wants to survive the Expanse. Not only is Archer increasingly unable to see himself as a simple good guy, then, but he's also terrible at being a bad guy. He just can't win. The Osaarian pirate proves a more principled man than Archer here, because he knows his standards and he sticks to them - yes, they're principles of ruthless pragmatism and survival at any cost, but he does stick to them, rather than moaning about Archer torturing him or doing other things that he would do without regret. Archer doesn't have a clear grasp on his current principles at all, one way or the other.

Another irony then, in that Archer is more flexible than the Osaarian and yet less, because the Osaarian was once a peaceful merchant who made the transition to ruthless piracy pretty successfully. Adaptability giving way to a secure sense of what he needs to do and how he needs to act, whereas Archer is having trouble both adapting and in keeping to a consistent set of moral principles. Will he succeed in doing so, and will the person he finally stabilizes as be acceptable to others like Reed? There's some promising hints at a character arc here, that we'll need to monitor over the coming episodes, see how it develops.

I'm glad that Hoshi got to participate in the plot in her role as communications officer. In the first season, we had quite a few scenes that saw her translating alien languages or speaking with T'Pol and Phlox in their own tongues, but in season two that petered out. Between her conversation with the MACOs in "The Xindi", which stressed her profession and her abilities that stem from it, and her work here, I'm glad the show seems to be making an effort to return her to some sort of professional prominence.

Also, with scenes referencing Trip and T'Pol's neuropressure and the importance of trellium, I'm glad that season three seems to be returning to the example of season one in other ways - by having every episode contribute in some way to the running arcs and themes, which allowed even mediocre first season episodes to have an interesting purpose or a sense of meaning. That's largely why I feel there are pretty much no truly bad episodes in the first season - being parts of a larger whole elevates each of them and compensates for any individual weakness. Season two lost that sense of unity-in-backdrop after the first handful of episodes, and it's good to see it return.

Osaarian weapons (or whatever weapons the pirates have ended up using) fire rapid bursts of energy; this is true both for their rifles and for their ship's arrays. The pirates are also arguably the first people we've encountered who have truly embraced transporter technology - not counting the Suliban Cabal, who are likely using future tech. The Osaarian pirates transport themselves and their booty freely and rapidly, without aid of transporter pads or lengthy preparations, and use transporter tags to help retain a lock.

Apparently, the Osaarians were going to be first Orions and then Ktarians, either of which would have been welcome. As it is, we have another new race (keeping in mind too that they're explicitly from outside the Expanse).

Continuity

The Interspecies Medical Exchange has charted Aldebaran, as the system is mentioned for the first time. It's home to mud leeches, another of Phlox's animals with medicinal uses.

The brig makes its first appearance - quite likely it didn't exist prior to the refit for the new mission.

Next Time: The road to Urquat in "Extinction".

 

[Enterpriserules]

^ It was interesting to see Archer thrown in to yet another role. First it was diplomat with the Klingons, then explorer and now he has to be a warrior, defending his planet from annihilation. He's the first person to have all of these responsibilities with no role models, except for history. I liked that we got to see his struggles and his failings as he steps into the vast galaxy.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

"Extinction"

Apparently we haven't entirely flushed all of the mid-season two out of our system, because this one is pretty pointless. It has its moments of poignancy, its touches of real distress and horror, and there are interesting ideas buried in there but overall it falls flat, and brings the narrative, if not to a halt, then at least to an uneasy shuffle. Far too much odd monkey-people dancing around and making silly noises.

The episode starts promisingly, with another neuropressure scene and direct follow-up to the theft of the Xindi database from the Osaarians, but the rest doesn't deliver.

The planet isn't marked. At first I thought this odd - if they're so interested in keeping it quarantined, why haven't Tret's people placed warning buoys or a permanent guard of warships? However, I suppose that doing so would draw attention to the world, which would be the last thing they wanted. Monitoring discreetly from without and sending over containment ships if someone arrives might well be more sensible than announcing "we have super bioweapons here".

There's something interesting in the Loque'eque's plan to fend off extinction, I will admit. They recreate in aliens their biology and their homing instinct, transmit racial memories, even their language (somehow), and yet it clearly can't capture who the Loque'eque actually were. Having them speak a language seems to defeat the point and the most interesting part of the Loque'eque transformation - that the virus is transforming them into the species, yes, but not into the people who created it, who were surely the product of many millennia of culture and civilization as well as biology. Presumably when the virus was first created the newly transformed Loque'eque would be educated by the actual Loque'eque? What happened here - did the hordes of newly transformed wind up overwhelming the few remaining native Loque'eque with sheer numbers so that the actual civilization ceased to exist, before they were all eradicated anyway by aliens?

(I'm thinking here of the vorcha from Mass Effect, a quick-breeding ultra-adaptable race who have very short lifespans, and who contrary to popular belief can be educated and "civilized" like anyone else, but whose civilizations pretty much always collapse back into loose uneducated mobs because the rapid rate of breeding simply overwhelms any educational infrastructure. By the time you've educated one to the same level as any other race, half its life is over and it's probably produced dozens of offspring who themselves have started breeding).

I wouldn't mind learning more about this, because as I said there is genuine poignancy and horror in the situation and it might be worth exploring further, it's just that the episode can't do it justice and wastes time on monkey antics.

Archer's little speech at the end is nice and I do understand his sentiments and where he's coming from, but still, I'm assuming that five minutes after Archer left sickbay Phlox destroyed the sample and wrote in the medical log "disregarded order due to captain's mental state still influenced by residual Loque'equeness".

That said, why haven't Tret's people rammed a starship or ten into that planet at warp and wiped it out? Is it possible they want to keep the virus there as a memorial too? It doesn't seem likely, but how else to explain it? Maybe Tret's people should be building a planet-buster weapon of their own. You have warp engines, Tret, you have antimatter, you have a world with no defences or shields or defenders, you can easily turn this place into a dead rock.

Stun setting works through containment suits. Hmmm. Why then does hitting the wall next to someone not affect them?

First Appearances of Things That Are Important:

The Loque'eque virus. Yes, it's important, because it will play a role in the Romulan War books.

Next Time: "Rajiin".